Earned it.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

RTMT, II: Brain Freeze!

Like the woolly-weather of Western Washington, many bloggers have been lamenting over tiny, little things that stick like poisonous thorns in play, that shunt out our fun, and put a wet blanket over our squeely-joy. I can tell you all on good authority it is nothing personal. The RNGs are not in as much control as one would hope. One tentacle doesn't know what the other seven are doing, in other words.

Another example is a conversation I had yesterday with my real-life gang of dwarfs, rogues, mages, warlocks, and druids. I was lamenting the silliness of Draenei not being allowed to be rogues, the rationale being their hooves would make it impossible for them to sneak up on anyone. A stalwart cross-dressing mage stated that he found the whole thing ridiculous, because game designers first and foremost need to be asking "What is fun?" and NOT - repeat NOOOOOOOOOTTTT "What can I make the player do?"

Believe me - there are game designers whose first words out of their mouths are "I'm going to make the player do..." and those jokers are the ones who are killing your fun. Period. Yes, they exist. Yes, they are limited by lack of vision, imagination, and have engineered their own realms of control and power. Poop heads.

There was apparently one person, with the initials CM, who decided he didn't want Draenei to be rogues, that was that. But I say, "Ah-ha, Sir CM!! I have you! Look what my imaginary creative powers of play can accomplish! I will create a pretend buff, a horse-shoe engineered by goblins and gnomes, that soften the steps of clumsy hooven rogues, so that they too may share in the glory of roguish romping! Hey, Tauren, too, if you like, can go all cloak-and-daggers, if they want!

I have had a healthy debate about my wish of Draenei to also be warlocks. Why should Orcs have all the fun of using their evil powers for good on their teams? Whatever.

8 comments:

I've got all these browser windows open to read from your last post, BUT I MUST first find out about brain freeze which I personally suffer from and what's worse my husband never gets it. Some kind of real life RNG, she gets, naw, pass on him.

Having played WOW for only 3 years (yes I know I'm still a kiddy) and Dungeons and Dragons for other 30 years, I did find it interesting that race limited class choice. The original D & D did have limitations as well, but any race could be any class. When we think of things, what happens when a dranei or tauren becomes orphaned in the big city and they have to survive, they steal. They start down a path which will lead them into the theives guild eventually. Consider also, there are so many different types of rogues, rogues that don't need to sneak around. A pick pocket is a rogue who moves through a crowded noisy street, helping themselves to a persons belongings by accidently brushing up against their target. Being silent is not going the a requirement for this type of job. Another type of rogue is the forger, again being silent is not a prequisite. So I find it funny that Blizz puts such a limitation on class by race. Anyone should be what they want as they'll find a way to achieve that end.

I actually kinda liked the race/class limitations. I mean, I'm a nature loving tauren, it just seems wrong that I would be delving in the fel and arcane arts. But we are not islands and surely other races can learn from each other and hence we can be every class?

I have mixed feelings -- the point is, just know some of these decisions are made arbitrarily, and some made with deep thought into lore. Sometimes it seems capricious to me. Truth, I am a terrible rogue, no matter the race. We players like to pretend we have a vote on these issues, but alas...